Society of Jesus (Jesuits)

Timeline

1. 1564Rome · RomeFrancisco Borja was elected third Superior General at the general congregation held in Rome, succeeding the late Diego Laynez and opening a new phase of governance in which the Society strengthened discipline and expanded its college network after the Council of Trent.
2. 1564–1566Rome · RomeUnder Borja, general congregations revised the implementing rules of the Constitutions, strengthening standards of Jesuit education and obedience; meanwhile the Society founded or took over colleges in Spain, Italy, Germany, and elsewhere, serving Catholic revival with humanistic and theological education.
3. 1566–1570Vatican · VaticanPope Pius V confirmed the Jesuit constitutions by papal bull and granted mission privileges; the general congregation coordinated the dispatch of Jesuits to the Americas, Asia, and Eastern Europe; construction of the Roman church of the Gesù began in 1568, symbolizing the order's further consolidated institutional standing in the Catholic world.